The present invention relates to a device for opening and closing a sliding door, and in particular a device which provides for hands-free opening and closing of horizontally sliding doors.
Many homes today are equipped with sliding door units such as patio doors which allow access in and out of the home to a recreation area or an outside barbecue area such as a deck, patio, yard, balcony, etc. Such door units typically include one or more sliding glass doors which consist of framed glass panels mounted for sliding horizontal movement. Often, such door units also include a sliding screen door similarly mounted for sliding horizontal movement along guide tracks.
As patio doors typically lead to a recreation area or an outside cooking area, they can at times be a relatively high volume point of entry and exit to a home. Despite the high volume, it is often desirable to maintain sliding patio doors in a closed position to the greatest extent possible in order to prevent hot or cold outside air from entering the home, or to keep out noise or insects, and for other reasons.
Most sliding doors include a handle which a person must push or pull with his or her hand to open and close the door. Such handles are typically located approximately three feet from the bottom of the door, and accordingly a person must have a free hand to open or close the door. This can be inconvenient as people often have their hands full of things such as cooking utensils, table settings, trays or plates of food, cases of bottled beverages, or recreational equipment and the like when they are attempting to pass through patio doors, and are thus unable to open the sliding door in a conventional manner. In such situations, people either have to put down some of the objects that they are carrying, or ask for assistance, or perhaps struggle to open and then subsequently close the door with a stray finger or elbow. People will sometimes also try to use a foot to open or close a sliding patio door. However, this requires the person to push his or her foot hard against the door in a direction transverse to its path of travel to get enough friction between their foot and the door to subsequently push the door along its track. In some cases, the necessary degree of friction may be very difficult or impossible to obtain, and the person's foot will simply slip along the door with no result.
In commercial locations, sliding doors will often be electrically activated by an electric eye or infrared detector in order to permit hands-free operation. However, such a solution is quite expensive and goes beyond the needs of most residential settings.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an inexpensive device which would allow a sliding door to be easily opened or closed without requiring a person to use their hands. It would also be desirable to have such a device which could be easily and securely attached to existing sliding patio doors. It would also be convenient to provide a sliding door unit having a sliding door which could be opened and closed in a hands-free manner.